Our Vision What Is At Stake?

In order to govern ourselves and sustain our communities, we need an adequate understanding of the law, government, and social issues; skills for discussing and working together across different; and a widespread commitment to preserving and improving our society and the rights and interests of all our people. Educating young people with this array of knowledge, skills, and dispositions has been a hallmark of education since the country’s earliest days.

The United States’ unique system of government relies on the civic strength to govern. We must have sufficient trust in our leaders and activate civic bonds for the common good. Schools play a significant role in educating FOR constitutional democracy. The goal is to build civic strength to sustain and strengthen a thriving nation.

A cause of our current levels of polarization,¹ increasing lack of faith in democracy among younger generations,² dearth of civic knowledge,³ susceptibility to false information,⁴ and waning trust⁵ is the lack of meaningful, culturally relevant and engaging civic education in our schools. Since the earliest days of our constitutional democracy, our schools (K–12 and higher education) have had a unique and essential mission to provide civic education—the knowledge, skills, and disposition to be informed and engaged participants in American civic life.

As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said, “Knowledge of our system of government, our rights and responsibilities as citizens, is not passed down through the gene pool, it must be taught!” This we know to be true, and research conducted by the the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University has shown, students who experience high-quality civic education are:

• More likely to vote and discuss politics at home;
• More likely to complete college and develop employable skills;
• Four times more likely to volunteer and work on community issues; and
• More confident in their ability to speak publicly and communicate with their elected representatives.

In the 51st annual Phi Delta Kappa poll of public attitudes on education (2019):

•  97% of Americans said civics should be taught;
•  81% of teachers say students should be required to take a civics class
• Parents (78%), all adults (79%), and teachers (85%) say schools should teach values as well as factual information
  • 87–97% of all adults say public school classes on values should cover honesty, civility, respect for authority, and acceptance of people of different religions
  • 81% say patriotism should be included

These findings mirror those of The Democracy Project report (2018) that found the most popular (89% support) initiative tested as a way to bolster democracy was to ensure that schools make civic education a bigger part of curriculum. This high level of support remained true across all age, gender, racial, political, socioeconomic, and geographic demographics.

To answer these questions, CivxNow partnered with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts to conduct a study with more than 7,200 participants. The study found 75 factors contributing to the poor state of K–12 civic education and, through 12,600 survey answers, mapped those factors into 14 categories and identified three key catalysts for strengthening civic education. Systems mapping (or the “5 Whys”) is an established methodology in the sciences that is less subject to respondent bias than a survey, therefore effectively diagnosing complex problems and  helping identify factors with high leverage to effect systems change. The path for ensuring youth are more prepared and engaged in civic life can be understood through the factors of the CivxNow K-12 Civic Education System Map [PDF] [online/interactive].

NOTES

¹ pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/section-1-growing-ideological-consistency

²  What’s more, there is growing evidence that young Americans are more open to nondemocratic forms of government. In 2011, noted researchers Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk found that, while a vast majority remain committed to democracy, 24% of U.S. millennials (then in their late teens or early twenties) considered democracy to be a “‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ way of running the country.”

In January 2017, a post-election poll conducted by CIRCLE found that 35 percent of Millennials were losing faith in American democracy, and just 25 percent were confident about American democracy.

³  According to the 2022 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, less than half of U.S. adults (47%) could name all three branches of the U.S. government. Only about one in four students reach “proficient” scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 8th grade civics, and this has shown little change since the 1970s. Additionally, given opportunity gaps in the way civic education is delivered across the country, disaggregated data shows the persistence of gaps in NAEP proficiency scores based on income and other demographics. Americans’ distrust the government at record levels, and they also distrust their fellow citizens to participate in governance.

⁴  A 2016 study conducted by the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) showed that more than 80 percent of middle schoolers cannot differentiate between a real news story and an advertisement.

⁵ A 2015 survey of the Pew Research Center found waning trust in “the government in Washington,” while a separate measure showed that just 34 percent of respondents indicated “‘very great’ or a ‘good deal’ of trust and confidence in the political wisdom of the American people. Fully 63% have ‘not very much’ confidence or ‘no confidence at all.’”